Black Prophecy - (Reakktor Media) debut trailer

[Mrbloodworth]

Basically. More than that, but yeah.

[grunk]

not much to go with... but a sci fi mmo would be great (not an eve fan).

Blackstar is my main interest in regards to upcoming mmos (unless kotor is true) so who knows.

[Slayerik]

not much to go with... but a sci fi mmo would be great (not an eve fan).

Blackstar is my main interest in regards to upcoming mmos (unless kotor is true) so who knows.

Kiss of death?

[grunk]

egad looks like blackstar is on life support.

[calapine]

Reakktor Media has released the first trailer for its upcoming next-generation Space Action MMO Black Prophecy. The movie gives you a glimpse of Black Prophecy's fast paced real-time combat action within the dark universe created by the award-winning Sci-Fi author Michael Marrak. Black Prophecy will be published by 10Tacle Studios in Q1 2009

10Tacle declares insolvency

10Tacle Studios AG has claimed insolvency, according to reports from the German website for the Wall Street Journal.
It is believed that the EUR 6.2 million in funding the developer announced just last week fell through, causing the company to declare insolvency last night

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/10tacle-declares-insolvency


Is it time to panic yet?   

[schild]

Reakktor has the worst. luck. ever.

[TripleDES]

Maybe CCP buys them up now for 31.75€.

[justdave]

So the publisher declares bankruptcy -before- the developer? I am not sure what this madness means.

[Ghambit]

A better question is, why would they even need or want a publisher?  A game such as this should be distro. online only and then perhaps gravitate to a boxed set later on after viability is proven.  I'm a bit tired of publishers holding developers' heads inside the guillotine with their contracts and the inevitability that they'll most likely delay release of a game for whatever reason.  Not to mention the increased prices we have to pay because of it, along with the added frustrations.

I can tell ya this, if their pubby goes belly-up at this stage in the game with a Q1 '09 release planned, you can pretty much add another 3 months to the timetable just to get a new pubby sorted out.  Hopefully, they dont make the same mistake PotBS did and think their shyt dont stink before they even sit on the toilet.

[Draegan]

Pubby?  Really?

[HaemishM]

A better question is, why would they even need or want a publisher? 

To pay the development costs without having to resort to huge bank loans that you probably can't even get now?

[UnSub]

A better question is, why would they even need or want a publisher? 

To pay the development costs without having to resort to huge bank loans that you probably can't even get now?

To run the customer service, to pay for the servers, to promote the game to a wide audience, etc etc?

What a publisher does from game to game can vary, but in general the smaller the developer, the more the publisher needs to do for them.

[Ghambit]

A better question is, why would they even need or want a publisher? 

To pay the development costs without having to resort to huge bank loans that you probably can't even get now?

To run the customer service, to pay for the servers, to promote the game to a wide audience, etc etc?

What a publisher does from game to game can vary, but in general the smaller the developer, the more the publisher needs to do for them.

Agreed.  With PotBS the lead dev. had the benefit of millions gained from working with Microsoft.  And yes, this publisher may just be doing a lot more than usual, dependant on the developer(s) coin moreso than size.

Hopefully, Reakktor bets on their own product and runs their own ship.  Keep it simple to start until they prove their design and then let the money flow in.  Negotiating another publisher is a sucky idea.

[UnSub]

A better question is, why would they even need or want a publisher? 

To pay the development costs without having to resort to huge bank loans that you probably can't even get now?

To run the customer service, to pay for the servers, to promote the game to a wide audience, etc etc?

What a publisher does from game to game can vary, but in general the smaller the developer, the more the publisher needs to do for them.

Agreed.  With PotBS the lead dev. had the benefit of millions gained from working with Microsoft.  And yes, this publisher may just be doing a lot more than usual, dependant on the developer(s) coin moreso than size.

Hopefully, Reakktor bets on their own product and runs their own ship.  Keep it simple to start until they prove their design and then let the money flow in.  Negotiating another publisher is a sucky idea.

I know nothing about Reakktor, but they can bet on their own ship all they want - if they don't have the resources in place to run their own customer service, maintain several sets of servers et al, then they really do need a publisher / partner to take on those duties. If they wanted to launch on one server and provide CS to a very limited group of players, then they can probably self-publish.

[Ghambit]

They could always employ the public for GM duties as well as some level and art design.  SOE employed players all the time for GM duties in SWG (if my memory serves me right).
See, really... MMOs need to get away from this cookie-cutter design format of stupid amounts of time and money and a million different folks with their hands in the pie (like pubbys, corporate types, and boards of directors).  Reakktor is probably not capable of such a design at this time since they're well-along in production, but it's a thought for future devs.

This game isnt considered a "AAA" title is it?

[calapine]

http://www.gbase.de/xbox/news/Black+Prophecy:+Entwickler+macht+weiter/0/38328.html Warning! Link may contain German!

Summary:

• Reakktor Media continuing business operations for the time being
• Black Prophecy and Neocron 2 development "not threatend"
• Release postponed to March 2009, Beta Oct 2008
• Reakktor "does not rule out" self-publishing

Seems this is a good case for expect the worst, hope for the best(?)...

*sad*

Somewhat Offtopic Edit: How long until we see another MMORPG that features all of old UO's sandbox-ieness/open-worldliness and skill based training system* with at least almost-approching-WoW quality of production and finish?

Or am I being a bit naive? I have been waiting for years now and starting become a bit desperate....

*: in world housing, free pvp ruleset, crafting, being able to spend hours decorating the house with self made furniture might be nice too..

[Venkman]

I'd guess we see it when someone launches a WoW-competitive hunting game that then gets UO-style stuff snapped onto it. Except for the skill-based part. I don't see that coming back and replacing canned Classes anytime soon at all.

So: years.

But then there's the other part of that question: when does a UO-style game get made by a company willing to spend a WoW-amount of money on both developing and marketing it, thus driving to something of a "mass" success?

Probably never.

[Ghambit]

Darkfall is the closest thing we've got right now to a modern UO.  We'll all find out supposedly in October when Beta starts.

As for BP, it's pretty much going down as I suspected.  Lack of a definitive pubby causes a delay until they figure what they're gonna do.  Meantime, they may as well do their beta.  It's the same old story from these smaller studios - they reach too high.  I'm tired of it.  Pub. it yourself and release the dang game.  Why does everyone have to have a box in Best Buy?  I think it's smart to say nowadays it's best to "sneak" into the market rather then come out with a splash and epic fail (need I rail off all the games that've done this).  And with the amount of competition that's out there right now, these companies cant negotiate worth a shyt with the publishers because they're just another fly on the MMO DRYwall.  They end up getting screwed over just to put out a substandard product anyways.  We should go back to the old days where you buy 5.25 floppies from a shady character with a pen-protector in a dark alley.  If that floppy showed promise, maybe he'd start his own mail-order.  Further along, get a proper publisher.

[Venkman]

Making an MMO is one thing. Having the hardware to support a few thousand concurrent players is another. You can build an MMO on a few computers with three guys. But unless you only plan to have their closest friends playing, you're going to be getting into the land of ongoing costs that eventually dry up the triple mortgage home equity line of bank credit you've been Taco Bell'ing on for howevermany years.

[Ghambit]

Making an MMO is one thing. Having the hardware to support a few thousand concurrent players is another. You can build an MMO on a few computers with three guys. But unless you only plan to have their closest friends playing, you're going to be getting into the land of ongoing costs that eventually dry up the triple mortgage home equity line of bank credit you've been Taco Bell'ing on for howevermany years.

Paying someone to host a game and paying someone to be a full-on publisher arent necessarily the same thing. 

[Venkman]

Yes. But getting your game to market is a one-time thing unless you're a runaway success. But even then, unless your name is "Blizzard", you're locked into however many times a year a retailer wants to put your box on their shelf. And that frequency is usually counted on on hand. This is the case even if they self-publish, and they only get around some of it if they go full digital distribution. And then they only get around most of it if they only offer downloads from their own site.

But that's the other side of this thing. Hosting the game either with equipment you amortize or with a partner is an ongoing cost. I don't know any hosting services that would let a startup MMO pay by the month, instantly turn on or off servers/support based on the post-launch fluctuation, and cancel whenever they feel like it.

So these guys really need to decide if they want to take the risk. Doing a box means more partners but more sales. Not doing one means less sales but more per-sale money for them. But launching at all means having a place for players to log into.

[Ghambit]

Doing a launch without partners doesnt mean less sales.  It just means MAYBE less sales initially.  Remember, this is "Black Prophecy" we're talking about.   They've got nowhere to go but up.  But if they think they're entitled to START from there, it's a bad move.  And there's no room in the market for this, nor is there bargaining power... especially for a Sci-Fi MMO that's not named Star Wars/Trek or even Jumpgate.  It's a small game, with a small studio, running on a small budget in a small niche market.  It should launch small.

Let the internets determine its fate if it's deserved.

Ultimately, if they decide they NEED a pubby and they're lucky enough to get a good deal, that just tells me their product is too stinky to survive without the muggles buying it off the shelf initially, before the game ultimately fails down the road.  But hey, at least the devs might get their investment back right?  Leaving us all looking like fools for buying it.

[Ghambit]

Any word on this thing?

[calapine]

Any word on this thing?

No, nothing since the news of the 10tacle debacle (sorry!) The game website seems to be frozen in time as well.

Shame really.

[Iniquity]

It's Reakktor.  I liked Neocron in some respects as a game (minus the ridiculous grind), but the people behind it clearly knew fuck-all about running a company.

[Mrbloodworth]

[TripleDES]

Anything else than just screenshots?

[Draegan]

Theres a little video to download from the website.

It looks good.  But I don't know anything else other than that.  I thought this game was dead if you ask me.

[Draegan]

New Official Website

[Baldrake]

Exactly how many gritty space pvp games is the market going to be able to support...?

Looks like it has asteroid mining though. I was really hoping for a game that had that.

[Rake]

Here's one Linky

[Baldrake]

Man, I appear to suck at that as much as when it was in the arcades.

[Le0]

Looks pretty interesting I never could get into EVE too many numbers etc... but this might be it !

[Nonentity]

On an unrelated topic, I noted that Neocron is free to play as of early this year, if only because they are experiencing long-term payment issues.

It's apparently been free for a few months now.

[Draegan]

New Trailer with awesome voice over.